k.d. lang to Receive 2018 Americana Trailblazer Award

If there’s an award that honors trailblazing, it’s hard to imagine it not coming to k.d. lang sooner or later. From the very start of her career, lang has done things (including capitalization) her own way, creating music that’s fresh and meaningful for more than three decades now.

Recognizing her courage and artistry, the Americana Music Association has named lang the recipient of its 2018 Americana Trailblazer Award. She’ll accept the award Sept. 12 at the Americana Honors & Awards show at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Lang has also won four Grammys, like a hundred Juno awards, and in 1996 received the Order of Canada, her home country’s highest civilian honor.

Aside from her solo work, including the groundbreaking Ingénue, whose 25th anniversary this year she’s celebrating with a tour, lang has collaborated with Tony Bennett (who called her “the best singer of her generation”), Neko Case and Laura Veirs on 2016’s case/lang/veirs, Roy Orbison, Elton John, Lyle Lovett, Loretta Lynn, Bonnie Raitt, and many others. She sang at the closing ceremonies of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary and at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Summer Olympics in Vancouver, where she knocked everyone over with her cover of “Hallelujah.” (She’d performed it previously, in 2005, at the Juno Awards – see video below). She’s used her fame to advocate for LGBTQ causes, animal rights, and more.

Heck, she even acted and sang in the comedy show Portlandia.

Also being honored at this year’s Americana awards will be Buddy Guy, with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Here’s a full list of nominees for the other awards to be given out in September.